In India, marriage is a sacrament, but women's rights are not

Photograph by Natesh Ramasamy via Flickr

The Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs, Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, released a statement in April explaining the government’s stance on marital rape. He claimed that the concept could not be suitably applied to India because of factors including poverty, religious beliefs, social customs and the perception of marriage as a sacrament.

The statement follows two years after India’s Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, which explicitly stated that it would exclude marital rape on the grounds that ‘sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape.’

Since the gang rape of a young student in New Delhi in December 2012 triggered a national uprising against sexual violence in India, the government ratified laws to help combat harassment, assault and rape against women. Despite this, a survey published by Hindustan Times in December 2014 revealed that 91% of 2,257 women believed that the city had not become any safer for them. The report also stated that 97% of the women had faced sexual harassment.

The statement by Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary demonstrates the need for a complete reform in how India, and countries all over the world, perceives sexual violence. The statement claims that marriage is a sacrament but refuses to acknowledge that women’s rights within their marriages are as important as men’s. It does not see a woman’s right to refuse sex under any circumstances as being as sacred as the marriage itself.

By refusing to distinguish between consensual sex and marital rape, the government is disregarding the fact that marital rape is not a matter of sex, but one of violence. As Congress leader Shashi Tharoor stated in response to the government, ‘whether [rape] happens within a marriage or whether it happens outside, when you are guilty of violence, the state should criminalise it.’

The unclear definition of marital rape in India has consequently led to mixed reactions to the government’s statement. Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, the Member of Parliament, who initially raised the question of making marital rape an offence, opposed the government’s response. She argued that criminalising the concept ‘is not against values, ethos or tradition of India. It is about protecting women in our own country within the institution [of marriage].’

Supporters of the government’s reply have argued that criminalising marital rape could lead to husbands being falsely accused of rape, a stance that ignores the low probability of this happening in proportion to the number of women who are actually faced with marital rape on a daily basis. In fact, according to a study by the ICRW and the UNPFA, more than a third of the men surveyed admitted to having forced a sexual act upon their wives.

While India passes laws in an attempt to tackle the issues of sexual violence women face in their public life, it is of crucial importance to take steps to support their rights in their own homes, too. The Indian government must take measures to redefine its attitude towards sexual violence in the context of marriage if it truly wishes to support the safety of women in the country.

Originally published on The Global Panorama.